There are too many potential scenarios to lay out exactly what could happen with every single possible game outcome in the wild, wild Western Conference.

So let’s narrow it down a bit to create a clearer picture.

If we assume all games that currently do, or are expected to, feature nine-plus point spreads are indeed won by the favorite, that means:

-Minnesota wins out (which would guarantee the Wolves a top-six seed — Wolves are 18.5 point favorites Friday against Brooklyn)

-The Lakers win at least one of their final two games (hosting the Rockets on Friday, currently a 9.5 point favorite, and at Portland on Sunday).

-Golden State beats Portland on the road Friday (currently a 12.5 point favorite).

At that point, there are only five games in play this weekend to determine seeds No. 4-8 in the Western Conference:

FRIDAY

-Memphis at Denver (Denver favored by 6.5 points)

-Clippers at Sacramento (Clippers favored by 6.5 points)

SUNDAY

-Dallas at Memphis

-Denver at Houston

-Clippers at Golden State

Which creates a far smaller, more manageable set of outcomes to explore.

So away we go.

*We’ll break down the subsets by Denver’s potential results.*

DENVER WINS OUT

Scenario

-Denver beats Memphis and Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats/loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Denver

5. Minnesota

6. Golden State

7. Clippers

8. Memphis

Scenario 

-Denver beats Memphis and Houston

-Clippers loses to Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats/loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Denver

5. Golden State

6. Minnesota

7. Clippers

8. Memphis

Scenario 

-Denver beats Memphis and Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis beats/loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Denver

5. Clippers

6. Minnesota

7. Golden State

8. Memphis

DENVER LOSES TO MEMPHIS, BEATS HOUSTON

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and beats Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Clippers

6. Golden State

7. Memphis

8. Denver

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and beats Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Clippers

6. Golden State

7. Denver

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and beats Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Clippers

5. Minnesota

6. Denver

7. Golden State

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and beats Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Clippers

5. Minnesota

6. Memphis

7. Denver

8. Golden State

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and beats Houston

-Clippers loses to Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Golden State

5. Minnesota

6. Memphis

7. Denver

8. Clippers

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and beats Houston

-Clippers loses to Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Golden State

6. Denver

7. Clippers

8. Memphis

DENVER BEATS MEMPHIS, LOSES TO HOUSTON

Scenario

-Denver beats Memphis and loses to Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis beats or loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Clippers

5. Minnesota

6. Denver

7. Golden State

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver beats Memphis and loses to Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats or loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Clippers

6. Golden State

7. Denver

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver beats Memphis and loses to Houston

-Clippers lose to Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats or loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Golden State

6. Denver

7. Clippers

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver beats Memphis and loses to Houston

-Clippers lose to Sacramento

-Clippers beat Golden State

-Memphis beats or loses to Dallas (irrelevant)

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Clippers

6. Denver

7. Golden State

8. Memphis

DENVER LOSES OUT

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Clippers

5. Golden State

6. Minnesota

7. Memphis

8. Denver

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento

-Golden State beats the Clippers

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Golden State

6. Clippers

7. Memphis

8. Denver

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Clippers

5. Memphis

6. Minnesota

7. Denver

8. Golden State

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers beat Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Clippers

5. Minnesota

6. Golden State

7. Denver

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers lose to Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Golden State

5. Memphis

6. Minnesota

7. Denver

8. Clippers

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers lose to Sacramento and Golden State

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Golden State

5. Minnesota

6. Clippers

7. Denver

8. Memphis

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers lose to Sacramento

-Clippers beat Golden State

-Memphis beats Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Clippers

6. Memphis

7. Denver

8. Golden State

Scenario

-Denver loses to Memphis and Houston

-Clippers lose to Sacramento

-Clippers beat Golden State

-Memphis loses to Dallas

Seeds

3. Lakers

4. Minnesota

5. Clippers

6. Golden State

7. Denver

8. Memphis

Today is Friday, April 11, the 101st day of 2025. There are 264 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On April 11, 1945, during World War II, U.S. Army troops liberated the Buchenwald Nazi concentration camp near Weimar, Germany.

Also on this date:

In 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as emperor of the French and was banished to the island of Elba. (Napoleon later escaped from Elba and returned to power in March 1815, until his downfall in the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815.)

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In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln spoke to a crowd outside the White House, saying, “We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart.” (It was the last public address Lincoln would deliver; he would die four days later after being shot by John Wilkes Booth.)

In 1951, President Harry S. Truman relieved General Douglas MacArthur of his command following multiple public statements by MacArthur that contradicted official U.S. policies.

In 1961, former SS officer Adolf Eichmann went on trial in Israel, charged with crimes against humanity for his role in the Nazi Holocaust. (Eichmann was later convicted and executed.)

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1968, which included the Indian Civil Rights Act and the Fair Housing Act, one week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1970, Apollo 13, with astronauts James A. Lovell, Fred W. Haise and Jack Swigert, blasted off on its ill-fated mission to the moon. (The mission was aborted following an oxygen tank explosion two days after liftoff, and the crew splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean on April 17.)

In 1980, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published guidelines saying sexual harassment in the workplace amounted to unlawful sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In 2012, George Zimmerman, the Florida neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. (He was acquitted at trial.)

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor Joel Grey is 93.
Actor Louise Lasser is 86.
Actor Peter Riegert is 78.
Actor Bill Irwin is 75.
Singer Lisa Stansfield is 58.
Former MLB catcher Jason Varitek is 53.
Actor Jennifer Esposito is 52.
Rapper David Banner is 51.
Model Alessandra Ambrosio is 44.
Singer Joss Stone is 38.

Minnesota trailed Memphis by five at halftime of a game the Wolves needed to win for playoff positioning.

A team that’s so often depended on its defense for the last few seasons, it was the Timberwolves couldn’t rely heavily on that end of the floor Thursday.

The Grizzlies gashed Minnesota to the tune of 72 points in the first half, using an up-tempo attack that consistently had the Wolves on their heels. There are two ways to slow down a team constantly aiming to play in transition. You can get back on defense and match up — which is a difficult solution to attain during the course of a contest — or you can consistently make the opponent pull the ball out of its own net.

The Wolves chose the latter.

Minnesota scored a franchise-record 52 points in the third quarter, going 18 for 21 from the field and 7 for 8 from beyond the arc to build a 22-point lead en route to a 141-125 victory in Memphis.

The Wolves’ third frame marked the highest-scoring quarter by any team in the NBA this season.

While the win left the Wolves in eighth place in the West for the time being, because of tiebreakers and who else plays one another over the weekend, Minnesota is now guaranteed to secure a top six seed in the West and dodge the play-in tournament altogether if it wins its last two games of the regular season against Brooklyn on Friday and against Utah on Sunday. The Wolves will be hefty favorites in both bouts.

Anthony Edwards scored 18 points in that third quarter, while Julius Randle scored 14. Their performances in that 12-minute span were indicative of the entire evening. Edwards was scalding hot from the field Thursday, punishing Memphis’ lack of perimeter defenders and drop coverage scheme in the pick and roll but burying one jumper after another. In total, he finished with 44 points on the strength of seven triples while going 11 for 13 from the free-throw line. The all-star guard also had nine assists.

Randle finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds and five dimes. He also had a pair of buckets in the closing minutes that slammed the door on a furious Memphis rally that briefly resembled Minnesota’s fourth-quarter collapse in Milwaukee on Tuesday, but stalled when the Grizzlies got to within 10 points.

Ja Morant led Memphis with 36 points, and Desmond Bane made six triples for Memphis — who shot 50% from distance as a team — but Bane went 0 for 4 from beyond the arc over the final two quarters, as Minnesota was able to keep better tabs on the sharpshooter in the half court.

Memphis scored on 65% of its second-half possessions that came after a Wolves’ miss or a turnover, but there were only 17 such occasions over the final two frames.

Minnesota shot 55% from the field on a night where it hit 20 triples. And while the Wolves would aim for a better defensive showing, part of the idea of this remade roster this season was that such offensive performances were possible.

And they got one exactly when they needed it.

Thursday night at U.S. Bank Stadium, AC/DC did what not too long ago seemed impossible. The Australian warhorses kicked off the North American leg of their Power Up Tour in front of a sold-out crowd of metalheads young and old (but mostly old).

Just weeks after we last saw the band in these parts, headlining Xcel Energy Center on Valentine’s Day 2016, lead singer Brian Johnson was forced to leave the tour after doctors told him he was at risk for total hearing loss due to a punctured ear drum. Axl Rose, of all people, stepped in to help AC/DC finish the tour, which seemed destined to be their final outing. In an interview at the time, Johnson himself suggested he was done with the band.

But, apparently, Johnson got his ear drum situation sorted and, in 2020, the band surprised fans with a new album, “Power Up.” Last summer, they played 17 cities across Europe. Minneapolis is the first of 13 North American dates, with the band returning to Europe in June.

Now 77, Johnson looked like he was having the time of his life Thursday, grinning wildly and shimmying around the stage like a drunken pensioner. His vocals have always been more about blunt force than technique and Johnson impressed with his still-powerful singing/screaming, even if he skipped some of the lyrics here and there. (The band took several quick between-song breaks during the show, presumably to give Johnson the chance to catch his breath.)

As usual, guitarist Angus Young existed in his own world and cranked out a steady stream of power chords and squealing solos, all while — at the age of 70 — dressed like a schoolboy. Young also stands as the only continuous member in the band’s 52-year history. His brother Malcolm retired in 2014 to receive treatment for dementia and died three years later. Drummer Phil Rudd sat out the tour to care for his partner, who is battling breast cancer. Bassist Cliff Williams has also retired from the road.

The replacements — rhythm guitarist Stevie Young, nephew of the Young brothers, bassist Chris Chaney and drummer Matt Laug — all fared well in creating a musical base for Young and Johnson to build on. Laug, in particular, proved particularly adept at keeping the rock and roll train barreling forward.

As for the set list, well, it was pretty much what you’d expect from AC/DC: “Back in Black,” “Thunderstruck,” “Highway to Hell,” “You Shook Me All Night Long” and so on. The pair of new songs they played fit in well, even if “Demon Fire” approaches Spinal Tap territory.

Despite the wrinkles and gray hair of the men playing them, AC/DC’s songs remain timeless slices of crude and rude rock custom made for blasting from the cars of stoned teenagers. It’s still a thrill to hear them performed live, even in the echo chamber that is U.S. Bank Stadium.

If this is the last we’ll see of AC/DC — and it very well could be — they went out with a bang for sure.

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